They’re calling it the Asian century and that’s where the money is when it comes to air travel. And it’s more than a bunch of clichés, as last week’s Skytrax awards demonstrated.

All but one carrier rated in the top 10 in Skytrax’s World Airline Awards come from the region that stretches from the Persian Gulf to Japan and the only exception, Turkish Airlines, lives a couple of kilometres from the Asian border.

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And I’m especially pleased to report that at least four of the top 10, including the top two, are airlines committed to industry-leading economy seating space on their long-haul services.

World's number one ... Qatar Airways. Photo: Reuters

Because Skytrax, an aviation industry consulting firm, has gone the extra mile in ensuring that its annual awards are transparent and (so far) apparently uncorrupted, they’re like money in the bank for the winners.

Through the year, airline awards are a dime a dozen and are used eagerly by carriers to gain a marketing advantage.

Skytrax says its World Airline Awards have “no link to any industry association or related bodies”. In a swipe at some awards, it says there is no payment for inclusion in the survey (this year some 18.8 million travellers were surveyed), no payment to attend the awards ceremony and “no chance for airlines to self-complete the survey”.

The awards “are not subscriber based, or a profit-driven self-interest type of award program”.

Skytrax also uses the annual survey to compile a ranking of airlines from one to 100, which illustrates that, in an industry so reliant on the preferences of individual travellers, there are only the quick and the dead.

Western airlines like British Airways and Qantas that were flying high in the 1990s are now also-rans.

In just a year, Air New Zealand has slid from seventh to 17th in the rankings. The fact that Virgin Australia (#12 in the world) convincingly outranked its arch-rival Qantas (#15) and was voted the best airline in the Asia-Pacific region is an invaluable tool to persuade its competitor’s lucrative business flyers switch brands.

The fact that Indonesia’s Garuda outranked both Virgin Australia and Qantas in the eyes of travellers and was voted the world's regional airline of the year is one of the surprises. But it indicates just what can be achieved by a competent management team, headed by former banker Emirsyah Satar, that has set about rebuilding an airline that was previously seen as a cheap and dangerous Third World carrier.

With a near-new fleet of Boeings and Airbuses, Garuda says it is aiming to be a “five-star” airline. It has been removed from the European Union’s list of banned carriers and will more than double its fleet of 81 planes in the next three years.

Even Tiger Airways (#86) outranks industry stalwarts like Royal Jordanian Airways and Air Pacific (Fiji), which shows that it must be doing something right. It, too, acquired a poor reputation for safety and punctuality up to and including its grounding in Australia a year ago for being an “imminent danger” to public safety. It’s now closely scrutinised by the Australian safety regulator and its on-time reliability, once the worst, is now the best in the industry.

It’s most encouraging that the best airlines are also the most generous with the space they allocate to those in cattle class. As the world gets wealthier, its people are better fed and physically bigger. They’re harder than ever to wedge into those tiny economy seats still used by space misers like Qantas and Virgin Australia.

Their accountants should be forced to fly down the back of the bus at least once a week.

Have you travelled recently with one of the top 10 Skytrax airlines? Is there an airline at the top of the rankings that doesn't deserve the accolade? Is there a dark horse way down the rankings that should have been promoted? Post a comment below.